Dark Ambition - Tears of Daewongoon

April 28, 2008

Reviewer: Jesse

The long-awaited full-length debut from S. Korea’s Dark Ambition has finally arrived entitled Tears of Daewongoon.  Well, “long-awaited” by all ten of us who actually heard their debut EP, Crimson Temptation back in 2003.  That EP was nothing ground breaking nor was it recorded very well, but through the bad production, the talent and desire was crystal clear.  It would only be a matter of time until they were able to hone their skills down to an art and become one of S. Korea’s premier metal bands.

Unfortunately, it seems as though we might have to wait a little longer for that to happen, but the seeds have certainly been sown.  Tears of Daewongoon at its core is an up-tempo melodic take on death metal with influences abound.  On its edges, it wants to explore touches of folk what with the acoustics and the haegum which is a traditional Korean string instrument with a very distinct sound.  Dark Ambition are clearly trying to feel out their own limitations and talents to see what works.  The problem is that it ends up being a very disjointed album without a whole lot of direction and flow.

For instance, the album kicks off with the song “Vice Ages” which is an excellent display of thrashing melodic death with great solos and is very catchy.  They waste no time in showing off the lead guitarist’s skills as not even fifty seconds into the song, he breaks into a minute-long killer solo.  The next song “Destruction...Paralyze...Disrupt” picks up right where the last song left off until about two minutes in where it cuts to a slower section with clean male and female vocals.  The third song gets even farther off of the beaten path with sweeping symphonics and a full female vocal section.  They were really going for an epic sound and pull it off quite well.  In fact, I think the song is fantastic on its own, but it just perpetuates the confusion of the listener.

Several of the songs are segmented where they’ll stop the current structure of the song and start something completely different.  At times I had to check the player to see if it was the same song.  On the third song, this happens with only about a minute left to go, which seems needless and only makes the song seem like a mess.  The fourth song brings a little bit of normalcy back to the album and sounds like it should be on the same album as the first song.  In fact, both songs are very heavily influenced by fellow countrymen, Holymarsh.

What really disappointed me about this album are the final two tracks.  The second to the last song, “Bird (Play of Korean Tradition),” is a twelve minute song that uses the haegum heavily which kind of makes it a Korean folk metal song.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually very well written and played, but it’s so completely out of context and will leave you even more befuddled as to what Dark Ambition’s focus was when recording this album.  But not only that, the final song… is the same damn song again!  Yes, 12 more minutes of the exact same song.  What the hell was the point in that?

The thing is, none of these songs are bad on their own... they just don’t belong on the same album as each other.  Tears of Daewongoon has all the ear marks of a band exploring their abilities and testing themselves out.  They certainly have a bright future and I have much confidence that they’ll work these things out and come back with something very special.

Release Date: June 11th, 2007
Label: Rock Space Korea Ent.

TRACK LISTING

1. Vice Ages
2. Destruction...Paralyze...Disrupt
3. Soul of God
4. Hollow Hearts
5. Tears of Daewongoon Part 1
6. Tears of Daewongoon Part 2
7. Bird (Play of Korean Tradition)
8. Bird (Instrumental)

*By clicking "Submit" you agree to the following Terms of Use. You agree not to post any material that is obscene, slanderous, or threatening, or that may violate any law of your country of origin or the United States or of international law. Should you wish to restrict viewing of your email address by third parties, you must select "Hide My Email." You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Metal Psalter from any claims, actions, suits, damages, or other costs arising out of any breach of these Terms of Use.

*Comments: